The causes of addiction relapse and the sobering statistics

Statistics on addiction relapse and how to address them

Drug and alcohol rehab statistics show that the percentage of people who will relapse after a period of recovery ranges from 50%-90%, according to AlcoholRehab.com. Those are the facts and those numbers are staggering. Ascent’s founder, Brian Bailys, saw this first-hand as 90% of people in his partial hospitalization program relapsed within the first 90 days of leaving.

It is commonly the people without proper support in their recovery that wind up relapsing and giving in once again to their addiction. Fortunately, those who take aftercare seriously and are proactive with their recovery see much better odds of avoiding relapse.

There are a multitude of reasons why people relapse and revert back to their addiction. Some of these reasons are:

Becoming overwhelmed: Some people become overwhelmed once they leave treatment and are back in society. Many of them take on additional responsibilities that they haven’t had to deal with for a while and it becomes too much to manage.

Loneliness: Many people experience loneliness in their post-treatment recovery. Many times this is because they are thrust back into the real world after constantly being around like-minded individuals and it takes a while for them to make new friends in recovery.

Wrong crowd: Often times, people in recovery find themselves fitting in with the wrong crowd. Other people that are supposed to be in recovery could have different priorities and bring down the people trying to remain on the path of recovery.

These are just a few of the reasons why some people in recovery might relapse. There is also a largely accepted myth that relapse is necessary in recovery in order to eventually beat addiction. That is simply not the case as there are people who manage to beat addiction and avoid relapse altogether, and revisiting whatever caused an addiction in the first place is a dangerous course of action.

“Most people who go into a residential rehab treatment manage to detox and stay that way during their weeks-or months-long stay. But problems begin when they leave. Many patients walk out the door — and fall off a cliff,” writes Tina Rosenberg in her NYT article about staying sober after treatment ends. “They go back to their old drinking or drug friends and places. The stresses of normal life resume. And exactly at the moment they need it most, they’re essentially on their own.” This is a crucial time for people in recovery to continue on that path. It is critical that these people have the continued support and positive influence they need to avoid relapsing. A relapse at a time like this could be especially fatal given that the person has been abstinent from the source of their addiction for an extended period of time and using at this juncture could result in an overdose.

“The lack of resources for people when they are at their most vulnerable makes no sense. No doctor would help a patient control his blood sugar or blood pressure once — and then wave goodbye. The same should be true of addiction,” write Rosenberg. “It’s a chronic disease that requires long-term, possibly lifetime, care. So why has care been so scarce?”

This is a question that Ascent has set out to answer and believes that the Ascent Solution is just that, a solution. As an enhancement to traditional recovery methods, the Ascent Solution addresses the need for support for people post-treatment. It sets out to solve the problems of loneliness, overwhelmed users and people succumbing to the wrong crowd. With 24/7/365 support from experienced addiction coaches and constant access to the plethora of mobile app features, the Ascent Solution provides people in recovery with everything they need to succeed.

The recovery industry is evolving and Ascent was created to expedite the process and push us closer to solving the addiction epidemic. For more information about the Ascent solution, visit Ascent.org. The solution is available now at the Ascent store. Together, we can rise above addiction.